Welcome to Art Room 104! Well, I no longer teach in room 104...it's now room 309, but the heart is still there! I have now transitioned into teaching 7th-12th grades, and my focus is now moving towards Choice Based Learning in the art room. Join me on my journey as I enter new territory, experiment, and share how I fit it all into the realm of Common Core!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Gettin' Ready...One More Day of Relaxation!

I decided to head to my classroom today to see what damage was done when they cleaned my room over the break. This was one of those BIG classroom cleanings, where they take everything out to strip and wax the floors. Surprisingly, I was shocked to find that it was 96% put back together! All I had to do was rearrange my tables to be in the correct color order.

I was also happy to see two boxes from Blick delivered to my room! In box #1...the small box...I found all my 4" canvases I ordered before break for our March faulty meeting about YAM. In box #2???? (Drum roll please...) My display strips that I ordered!

I must say I am impressed with these! I pulled one out to test it and I was able to hang an 8 1/2"x11" canvas board AND a thin collage project together on one strip! Gave it a shake, and nothing fell out!

Thanks everyone who helped me out and gave their input on those display strips back in January. I ended up being torn between option #1 and #2. I decided to try #1 and I bought it in 6' lengths. That was the cheapest way (cheaper than the 8' lengths). I bought enough to do two walls of 54'. Hopefully I'll have pictures to share this week after I convince the custodians to hang them for me!

I also worked on getting ready to do my first bottle cap mural. I decided that I like the idea of doing the cap mural for YAM. I'm thinking I will be able to get each class to work on it once to finish the entire thing. I bought this 4'x8' board from Lowes for $10 and had them cut it in half for me (so it would fit in the back of my truck and be more manageable). Today I took them in and primed them with a layer of gesso. I was thinking of having the students gesso them, but I didn't want any of that wasted so I decided to do that part.

I plan on borrowing the COW (computer on wheels) from the library to project Starry Night onto the boards and I'll have my art club draw it out and outline it with black markers. Then, I'll have the kindergartners and 1st graders sort the colors into dark and light (right now I just have all the blues sorted into one pile, reds in another, etc.) I'll have 2nd and 3rd graders work on painting the board the colors it will need to be when we place the bottle caps. I'll have 4th, 5th and 6th place the caps and glue them using caulking. At least that's my plan as I think of it right now...it will probably change as I start this and run into road blocks, but that's the joy of being an art teacher who is flexible I suppose! (Somewhere in there I'll have to have students clean caps for me too!)

I know Starry Night is probably a tad bit overdone in bottle caps, but I can't help it! I LOVE Van Gogh, as do my students! And, my superintendent's favorite artist is Van Gogh, so it will definitely get hunt in our school! ;) I've seen so many versions on Pinterest and they all turn out awesomely different! Next year, I think we'll make up our own mural to do in caps.

2 comments:

Your comment on the floors made me laugh! I returned from spring break many years ago to find my entire classroom in the hall on Monday morning after they striped and waxed the floors. I wasn't laughing! Luckily, I had 5th graders for my first class to help me move and reorganize! Your room looks awesome!!

Thanks! They always do a full cleaning in the summer and then over one of the week breaks. They always hate doing the art rooms...we have so much stuff! I don't think they actually moved everything though because I KNOW I would have had more work to do to put my room back together! Either way, it all looks nice and clean for now!

About Me

I have now entered my 7th year of teaching in a very small, extremely rural district. I've been an elementary art teacher for 3 years, a K-12 teacher for 3 years, and now, I am a 7th-12th grade high school art teacher...my dream grade levels! I am also a Jamberry consultant, and while I don't find much time to make my own art anymore, I love to design my own jams!